A NEW bus stop has caused a 110-year-old wall to collapse, a man has claimed.
Paul Kelly, 60, says his boundary wall on Cumberworth Lane, Denby Dale, collapsed in July after work by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, in August 2007.
They moved the bus stop in front of his property which included digging at the foot of his wall and raising the level of the kerb.
Two years on Mr Kelly, a construction worker, says the work and the vibration from buses caused the wall to topple.
Mr Kelly, who lives alone and has just suffered had a triple heart bypass, said Metro have been unwilling to talk and he did not feel it was fair that he had to pay more than £2,500 to have it repaired.
He has now commissioned a structural engineer to investigate the wall’s collapse.
He said: “The wall has fallen down exactly where they did the work.
“I think they should repair it. Because it’s a drystone wall people waiting for buses have been picking away at it.
“And when the buses are idling there’s a fair bit of weight sitting there.
“It’s ironic that the wall’s been there all this time and then it collapses exactly where they’ve done the work.
“I went into Metro’s head office in Leeds four times to get a response from them but they want nothing to do with me.”
Mr Kelly, who has lived at the property for 10 years, said Kirklees Council fenced off the rubble but hadn’t been willing to help with the repair.
A Metro spokesman said: “As we have already explained in a letter to Mr Kelly, the most recent work Metro carried out at this stop was in August 2007 when we made some changes to the stop’s metal plate.
“This work involved changing some adhesive destination markers on the plate, which would not have affected the wall or caused it to fall down almost two years later.”
A Kirklees Council highways spokesman, said: “We have visited Mr Kelly and established that the damaged wall is a retaining wall for his garden and therefore his responsibility. He has been advised to take the matter up with his insurers.”
